Corks, Screwcaps and Wine Culture

(Wines&Vines) - The rising acceptance of screwcapped wines has only served to improve traditional natural cork closures, most of a bi-cultural assembly of wine industry suppliers, winemakers, distributors and other experts seemed to agree. Vive détente. 

“Cork vs. Screw Cap: What impact on the market?” was the title of San Francisco’s French American Chamber of Commerce first gastronomy and wine conference at the Napa Valley Country Club on Sept. 17.

Despite partisan presentations from the supplier side—Frederic Catteau, general manager of Stelvin’s Amcor Flexibles and Peter Weber, executive director of the Cork Quality Council—the proceedings remained amicable throughout. 

Jacques Brix, president of the French Association of Wine Executives and vice president/director of sales for Wines & Vines, keynoted with recent data that demonstrated the rapid rise of screwcaps in the North American wine industry: 38% of wineries currently use screwcaps on at least some bottles, vs. only 5% in 2004.

However, 84% of wineries continue to employ natural cork in some or all bottlings. Although not on the agenda, since 2006 a large minority of wines, primarily from the largest wine brands, have been using synthetic and agglomerate corks, Brix said. Figuratively donning a sales jacket over his golf shirt, Brix commented, “We love everybody.”